No. 1 Syracuse beats St. John's 85-66

The Orange's fifth-year seniors held aloft an unlikely prize
Tuesday night - the Big East championship trophy - after
Syracuse beat St. John's 85-66 in its first game in two decades
as the No. 1 team in the nation.

"It's a blessing. I've been here five years and it's the first
time my mom's seen me play here," Onuaku said. "It's just
special. We came in the same day, and we were two guys that they
felt wouldn't be much, underrated guys. We came here, worked
hard, and it's paid off."

Onuaku finished with a season-high 21 points and had eight
rebounds, and Rautins had 14 points and seven assists as
Syracuse won the Big East title outright for only the second
time (1990-91).

"I really couldn't think of a better way to go out," said
Rautins, who was accompanied by his dad, Leo, a former Syracuse
star, in pregame festivities on senior night. "We're not going
to be satisfied just yet."

Wes Johnson had 13 points, four assists and four blocks, and
reserves Kris Joseph and Scoop Jardine combined for 23 points
for Syracuse (28-2, 15-2).

D.J. Kennedy led St. John's (15-14, 5-12) with 19 points, while
Paris Horne had 18.

The Orange were coming off a raucous 95-77 victory over No. 9
Villanova on Saturday night before an NCAA record on-campus
crowd of 34,616 to move from No. 4 to the top spot on Monday. It
was the first time the Orange were there since a six-week stint
in 1989-90 and they apparently like the view.

Syracuse closes the regular season on Saturday at Louisville
looking to finish 9-0 on the road. Their only losses this season
were at home to the Cardinals and Pittsburgh.

"To win this league outright is a tremendous accomplishment,"
said coach Jim Boeheim, whose Orange were picked sixth in the
preseason conference poll and were not ranked. "They deserve to
be called champions. They played like that all year long."

St. John's dropped to 0-7 against ranked teams this season, but
the Red Storm beat Louisville at home and Notre Dame on the road
in consecutive games just over two weeks ago and kept pace with
the Orange early.

Horne hit two 3-pointers and Kennedy hit another to move St.
John's within 23-20 with 8:27 left. But the Red Storm lost their
second-leading scorer and top outside threat midway through the
first half when Dwight Hardy twisted a knee and was carried off
the court by two teammates.

Syracuse finished the half on a 19-8 run, and Rautins led the
way. After driving and dishing off to Onuaku for a layup,
Rautins hit a 3 from the top of the key and set up Joseph with a
perfect lob to boost the lead to 33-22 with 4:55 to go.

"It's hard to come off a game like Villanova," Jardine said. "I
think we did a great job as far as keeping our composure and
getting out and playing Syracuse basketball, getting out running
and filling the lanes and playing defense."

St. John's found some openings in the Syracuse zone at the
outset as Anthony Mason Jr. and Justin Brownlee converted lobs
from Malik Boothe. But the Orange began to extend their defense
and the Red Storm struggled, getting called for a shot clock
violation and backcourt violation on consecutive possessions.

"Syracuse did what they do best," said Justin Burrell, who had
eight points, five rebounds and four steals for the Red Storm.
"They turned it up, blocked shots, forced a lot of turnovers,
forced us to take tough shots and got out in transition."

Syracuse, which outscored St. John's 22-4 on the break, extended
its 42-28 halftime lead to as many as 16 points in the first 5
minutes of the second when Brandon Triche hit a pullup 3 in
transition to make it 52-36 with 16:27 left.

After Horne hit his fourth 3 of the game to cut the margin to
11, Jardine negated it with a three-point play, and Onuaku's
follow of a missed 3 by Rautins gave the Orange a 59-44 lead
with 12:27 left.

Johnson's soaring slam dunk and four straight baskets by Onuaku
- a slam off a pass from Johnson, a putback, and consecutive
layups off feeds from Rautins and Jardine - had Syracuse up
72-54 with 7:31 remaining.

Boeheim pulled Onuaku with 2:47 left as the Carrier Dome crowd
roared its appreciation and Rautins followed just over a minute
later.

"I'm just so glad they did good," junior forward Rick Jackson
said. "I'm going to miss those guys. We've been through a lot.
Hopefully, we can win a championship together."